Westminster. My host immediately | her good sister, that she expressed a gave notice of my coming; and that great desire to see her. Then she took same night, her Majesty sent Mr. Hat-out of a little cabinet the Queen's picton to welcome, and to inform me, that ture, and kissed it, and I ventured to the next morning she would give me kiss her hand, for the great love eviaudience in her garden at eight o'clock.denced therein to my mistress. She inAccordingly, Mr. Hatton, and Mr. Randolph, late agent for the Queen of England in Scotland, came to my lodging, to convey me to her Majesty, who was, as they said, already in the garden. With them came a servant of my Lord Robert's, with a horse and foot mantle of velvet, laced with gold, for me to ride upon, which servant, with the said horse, waited upon me all the time that I remained there. quired of me many things relating to the kingdom of Scotland, and other countries wherein I had travelled. She caused me to dine with her dame of honour, my Lady Strafford, (an honourable and goodly lady, who had been banished to Geneva during the reign of her predecessor), that I might be always near her, so that she might confer with me. "At divers meetings we had conver"At another interview, Elizabeth in-sations on different subjects. The Queen, quired if the Queen had sent any answer my mistress, had instructed me to leave to the proposition of marriage made to matters of gravity sometimes, and cast her through Mr. Randolph. I answered, in merry purposés, lest otherwise she as I had been instructed, that my mis- should be wearied; she being well intress thought little or nothing thereof. formed of her natural temper. ThereAdding, that the Queen, my mistress, fore, in declaring my observations of the is minded to send on her part, my Lord customs of Holland, Poland, and Italy, the Murray, and the Secretary, Lidingtoun, buskins of the women were not forget; and expects your Majesty will send my and what country weed I thought best Lord of Bedford, and my Lord Robert becoming gentlewomen. The Queen Dudley. She answered, -That it ap- said she had clothes of every sort, which peared I made but small account of my every day thereafter, so long as I was Lord Robert, seeing that I named the there, she changed. One day she had Earl of Bedford before him; but that the English weed, another day the ere long she would make him a far French, another the Italian, and so on. greater earl, and that I should see it She asked me which of them became her done before my return home, for she es- best? I answered, in my judgment the teemed him as her brother and best Italian dress; which answer I found friend, whom she would have herself pleased her well, for she delighted to married, had she ever minded to have show her golden-coloured hair, wearing taken a husband. But being deter- a caul and bonnet, as they do in Italy. mined to live single, she wished the Queen, Her hair was rather reddish than yelher sister, might marry him, as meetest low, curled in appearance naturally. of all others with whom she could find She desired to know what colour of in her heart to propose. For, being hair was reputed best; and whether my matched with him, it would remove out Queen's hair or her's was best; and of her mind all fears and suspicions, of which of them was fairest? I answered, being offended by any usurpation before the fairest of them both was not their her death. Being assured that he was worst faults. But she was earnest with so loving and trusty, that he would never me to declare which of them I judged suffer any such thing to be attempted fairest. I said she was the fairest queen during her time; and that the Queen, in England, and mine in Scotland; yet my mistress, might have the higher es- still she appeared earnest. I then told teem of him, I had been required to stay her, they were both the fairest ladies in till I should see him made Earl of Lei- their respective countries; that her Macester and Baron of Denbigh. She ap-jesty was whiter, but my Queen was peared to be so affectionate to the Queen, very lovely. She inquired, which of them was highest in stature? I said, my Queen. Then, said she, she is too high, for I myself am neither too high not too low. Then she asked, what exercises she used? I replied, that when I received my despatch, the Queen was lately come from the Highland hunting. That when her more serious affairs permitted, she was taken up with reading of histories; that sometimes she recreated herself in playing upon the lute and virginals. She inquired if she played well? I said, reasonably for a queen. "That same day, after dinner, my Lord of Hunsdon drew me up to a quiet gallery, that I might hear some musicbut he said he durst not avow it—where I might hear the Queen play upon the virginals. After I had hearkened a while, I stood by the tapestry that hung before the door of the chamber, and seeing her back was towards the door, I ventured within the chamber, and stood at a pretty space, hearing her play excellently well; but she left off immediately, as soon as she turned about and saw me. She appeared surprised, and came forward, seeming to strike me with her hand; alleging that she used not to play before men, but when she was solitary, to shun melancholy. She asked how I came there? I answered, as I was walking with my Lord of Hunsdon, we passed by the chamber door-I heard such melody as ravished me, whereby I was drawn in ere I knew how; excusing my fault of homeliness, as being brought up in the court of France, where such freedom was allowed; declaring myself willing to endure whatever punishment her Majesty should be pleased to inflict upon me, for so great an offence. Then she sat down low upon a cushion, and I upon my knees by her, but with her own hand she gave me a cushion to place under my knee; which at first I refused, but she compelled me to take it. She then called for my Lady Strafford out of the next chamber, for the Queen was alone. She inquired whether my Queen or she played best? In that I found myself obliged to give her the praise. She said my French was very good; and asked if I could speak Italian, which she spoke reasonably well. I told her Majesty I had no time to learn that language, not having been above two months in Italy. Then she spoke to me in Dutch, which was not good; and would know what kind of books I most delighted in, whether theology, history, or love matters! I said I liked well of all the sorts. "I now took occasion to press earnestly my despatch: she said I was sooner weary of her company than she was of mine. I told her Majesty, that though I had no reason to be weary, I knew my mistress's affairs called me home. Yet I was detained two days longer, that I might see her dance, as I was afterwards informed. Which being over, she inquired of me whether she or my Queen danced best? I answered the Queen danced not so high, nor so disposedly as she did. Then again she wished that she might see the Queen at some convenient place of meeting. I offered to convey her secretly to Scotland, by post horses, clothed like a page; that under this disguise she might see the Queen; as James the Fifth had gone in disguise with his own ambassador, to see the Duke of Vendome's sis ter, who should have been his wife. Telling her that her chamber might be kept in her absence as though she were sick, that none need be privy thereto, except Lady Strafford, and one of the grooms of her chamber. She appeared to like that kind of language, but only answered it with a sigh, saying, 'Alas! if I might do it thus!' I then withdrew." "About this period," says Naunton, in his Fragmenta Regalia," Bowyer, a gentleman of the black rod, being charged by the Queen's express command to look precisely into all admissions into the privy chamber, one day stopped a very gay captain, a follower of Leicester's, from entrance, for that he was neither well known, nor a sworn servant to the Queen: at which repulse, the gentleman, bearing high on my lord's favour, told him, he might perchance procure him his discharge. Leicester coming in at this moment, said publicly (which was none of his wont), that much difficulty in restraining these noblemen from breaking out into actual violence: at length, however, she summoned them both into her presence, and forced them to a temporary reconciliation. Bowyer was a knave, and should not | ried, that for some time neither of them continue long in his office; and so turn- would stir abroad without a numerous ing about to go into the Queen's cham-armed train. The Queen herself had ber; but Bowyer, boldly stepping before him, and falling at the Queen's feet, related the story, and humbly asked whether Leicester was King, or her Majesty Queen? Whereunto she said, with her wonted oath, 'God's death! my lord, I have wished you well, but my favour is not so locked up for you, that others shall not partake thereof; for I have many servants, to whom I shall, at my pleasure, bestow my favour, and likewise resume the same: and if you think to rule here, I will take a course to see you forthcoming; I will have here but one mistress and no master! and look that no ill happen to him, lest it be required at your hands!' which words so quelled my Lord of Leicester, that his feigned humility was long after one of his best virtues !" That sincere, upright, courageous nobleman, the Earl of Sussex, and Lord Chamberlain, was endowed with sufficient penetration to detect, beneath the veil of artifice and hypocrisy under which they were concealed, the monstrous views of the Queen's favourite, Leicester; and he could not, without disgust and indignation, behold a Princess, whose blood he shared, and in whose service he had entered with devotion, the dupe of so despicable and pernicious a sycophant. That influence which he saw Leicester abuse, to the dishonour of the Queen and the detriment of the country, he undertook to overthrow, by fair and public means; and without motives of personal interest or ambition. There mingled also in the breast of the highborn Sussex, a thorough disdain of the origin of Dudley, with a just abhorrence of his character and conduct. He was wont to say of him, that two ancestors were all that he could remember-his father and grandfather-both traitors to their country. His sarcasms roused in Leicester the most deadly animosity. With the exception of Cecil and his friends, who remained neuter, the whole court divided into factions upon the quarrel of these two powerful peers: and to such extremity were matters car The storm, under which the favourite had yielded for a time, quickly passed over, and he once more resumed his haughty demeanour. To revenge himself on Sussex was, however, beyond his power. The well-grounded confidence of Elizabeth in his abilities and his attachment to her person, he found to be immoveable; but he so far succeeded as to induce Elizabeth to send his adversary to an honourable exile, in the shape of an embassy to the Imperial court. When Sussex returned from this mission, the Queen named him Lord President of the North-an office which equally removed him from court intrigue. Not long after, the hand of death terminated his honourable career and the implacable enmity of Leicester. As he lay on his death-bed, Sussex thus addressed his surrounding friends: "I am now passing into another world, and must leave you to your fortunes, and to the Queen's grace and goodness: but beware of the gipsy Leicester, for he will be too hard for you all; you know not the beast so well as I do!" About this period [1566] the beautiful Lady Mary Grey, sister to the celebrated Lady Jane and Lady Catherine Grey, of royal lineage, married Martin Kays, of Kent, esquire, a judge at court. Mary Grey," says Fuller, "frighted with the infelicity of her two eldest sisters, Jane and Catherine, forgot her honour to remember her safety; and married one whom she could love and none need fear, Martin Kays, of Kent, who was a judge at court--(but only of doubtful casts at dice, being sergeant porter) and died without issue." Elizabeth, according to her usual practice in similar cases, when the blood royal was defiled, sent both husband and wife to prison. The unfortunate lady did not, it would appear, sufficiently "remember her safety" in forming this connection, | to harm is perilous in the hand of an obscure and humble as it was; for all ambitious head. Where might is mixed matrimony had now become offensive to with wit, there is too good an accord in the match-marring Queen. After the a government. Essays be oft dangerous; death of her husband, Lady Mary Grey especially when the cup-bearer hath rewas consigned to the care of Sir Thomas ceived such a preservative as, what Gresham, the eminent merchant, where might soever betide the drinker's draught, she remained for three years, and was the carrier takes no bane thereby. then liberated, through the kind intercession of Sir Thomas, who wrote to Lord Burleigh on her behalf. Elizabeth was remarkably fond of proverbs and quaint aphorisms; and although throughout her epistolary correspondence this marked trait in her character is evident, it is nowhere so fully displayed as in the subjoined pedantic letter, in which she prescribes to Sir Henry Sidney, the Governor of Ireland, the part he is to take on the occasion of the fierce feud between the Irish Earls of Desmond and Ormond : “HARRY, "If our partial slender managing of the_contentious quarrel between the two Irish Earls did not make the way to cause these lines to pass my hand, this gibberish should hardly have cumbered your eyes; but warned by my former fault, and dreading worser hap to come, I rede you take good heed that the good subjects lost state be so revenged, that I hear not the rest be won to a right byeway to breed more traitor's stocks, and so the goal is gone. Make some difference between tried, just, and false friends. Let the good service of well-deservers be never rewarded with loss. Let their thanks be such as may encourage more strivers for the like. Suffer not that Desmond's denying deeds far wide from promised works, make you trust to other pledge than either himself or John for gage: he hath so well performed his English vows, that I warn you to trust him no longer that you see one of them. Prometheus let me be; Epimetheus hath been mine too long. I pray God your old strange sheep, late (as you say) returned into the fold, wore not her woolly garment upon her wolvy back. You know a kingdom knows no kindred; si violandum jus regnandi causa. A strength "Believe not, though they swear, that they can be full sound whose parents sought the rule that they full fain would have. I warrant you they will never be accused of bastardy; you were to blame to lay it to their charge; they will trace the steps that others have passed before. If I had not espied, though very late, legerdemain used in these cases, I had never played my part. No, if I did not see the balances held awry, I had never myself come into the weigh-house. I hope I shall have so good a customer in you, that all other officers shall do their duty among you. If aught have been amiss at home, I will patch, though I cannot whole it. Let us not, nor no more do you, consult so long as till advice come too late to the givers; where then shall we wish the deeds while all was spent in words? A fool too late bewares when all the peril is passed. If we still advise, we shall never do; thus are we still knitting a knot never tied; yea, and if our loom be framed with rotten hurdles, when our web is well nigh done, our work is to begin anew. send the weaver true 'prentices again, and let them be denizens, I pray you, if they be not citizens; and such, too, as your ancientest aldermen, that now dwell in your official place, have had best cause to commend their good behaviour. God "Let this memorial be only committed to Vulcan's base keeping, without any longer abode than the reading thereof; yea, and with no mention made thereof to any other wight. I charge you as I may command you. Seem not to have had but the secretary's letter from me. "Your loving Mistress, In June, 1566, Mary, Queen of Scots, was safely delivered of a son. Sir James Melville was immediately dispatched with the news to Elizabeth; and, in | "The next morning was appointed for thousand pounds; in return for which, rings, rich chains of diamond and pearl, and other precious jewels, were bountifully bestowed on the proxies of Elizabeth. 66 As to The delicate subject of a successor to the throne was again revived in the House of Commons, in defiance of the opposition of the court party, who reiterated "that the Queen was moved to marriage, and inclined to prosecute the same.' A motion was carried, and a committee appointed to confer with the lords on the subject. The Queen then required a deputation from both houses to wait upon her, which having been agreed to, the lord keeper explained their sentiments, in a long speech, to which her Majesty was pleased, in her usual indirect way, to reply: my marriage, a silent thought might serve. I thought it had been so desired that no other tree's blossom should have been minded, or ever any hope of fruit had been denied them. But if any doubted that I am by word or determination never bent to tread in that kind of life, I desire them to put aside that sort of heresy; for their belief is indeed mistaken. And although I might think it best for a private woman, yet I strive with myself to think it not meet for a Princess. As to the succession, I desire them not to think that they had needed this desire, if I had seen a time so fit, and it was so ripe as to be declared. That for their comfort, I had good record in that place that other means than they mentioned had been thought of for their good, as much as for my own surety; which, if they could have been conveniently executed, it had not been now deferred or over-slipped. That I hope to die in quiet, with Nunc Dimittis, which could not be without I see some glimpse of their following surety after my graved bones." Elizabeth accepted, with a good grace, the office of sponsor to the young Prince of Scotland; sending thither, as her These vague and unmeaning sentences proxies, the Earl of Bedford, a son of tended little to the satisfaction of the Lord Hunsdon, and several knights and House of Commons; and a motion was gentlemen. These met with a cordial made and carried, to persevere in the reception from Mary, who was now at remonstrance against the Queen's deopen variance with her husband. The laying her marriage any longer. At present sent by Elizabeth, as the royal this bold step her Majesty was so engodmother, consisted of a rich font of raged, that she communicated, through pure gold, of the value of upwards of one | Sir Francis Knolles, her positive com |